


Phase One

by Anonymous



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Child slavery, Drabble, Fluff, Gladiator!Soundwave, Impiled Unethical Experimentation, Not really slash since they're young, Other, Soundwave and Starscream are newsparks, Very minor but they're basically being groomed into weapons in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23415793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A little one-shot about how they meet/ kid AU.
Relationships: Shockwave & Soundwave (Transformers), Shockwave & Starscream (Transformers), Soundwave & Starscream, Soundwave/Starscream
Comments: 3
Kudos: 73
Collections: Anonymous





	Phase One

The machine continues to beeps while the tubes keep on sending soft buzzes of electricity throughout his frame. As it has been for the past one million vorn.

It hasn’t _ really _ been one million vorns, but it might as well be.

Bored, the red and silver seekerling looks around the mostly-empty lab.

The place is cold and devoid of any color or decoration— nothing like the noisy and chaotic dorm where he and his many siblings reside. All of the shelves and tools around him are meticulously, almost symmetrically arranged.

This morning, when an important-looking Cybertronian has come to talk to his handler and brought him to this strange city, the young seeker has been thrilled. Not so often that someone will get out of the usual Energon hunting duty to go into the city.

His world quickly shifted from polluted air, boring old mines and deserted mountain ranges to wide avenues, glimmering night lights, and lots of different vehicles dashing about. The clear sky here is practically calling for him to soar through.

He hasn’t got a chance to, however. In a flash, he has arrived at this sky-scraping facility. A few security bots then hauled him along the spotless corridor, up the equally pristine elevator, and straight into this glorified brig.

The lab is certainly unlike anything he has seen in his short function, but he’s basically being bored to death just by laying in here— while there is a whole new city waiting for him to explore outside, no less!

The impatient seeker sighs loudly to voice his irritation. The bulky purple tank who has introduced himself as  _ ‘your physician,’  _ does not even bat his weird, cyclopean optic at him. 

He rolls his optics and turns to the only one thing that keeps drawing his attention since the moment they confined him in here. 

Just out of his peripheral vision, another large— maybe as large as the adult seekers back home— Cybertronian hiding quietly in the corner. They have been there, standing completely still, for about a joor now. 

The one-optic doctor never acknowledges that someone else is there with them, even though the young seeker keeps glancing in their direction as obviously as possible.

Most of the mysterious mecha’s features are hidden, the only thing clear is the exotic pattern of calmly pulsing biolights, glowing soft violet in the shadow. The little flier found them quite relaxing to look at, despite the overall creepiness of their presence.

Just as the winglet about to convince himself that the spooky bot is just a fragment of his wild imagination. The doctor turns to him and starts to wordlessly unhook the cables from his frame, before snapping a tracking collar back around the jet’s neck cables.

“Hmm,” the elder tank hums in the deep, monotonous voice of his. “It appears that the subject lacks the abilities found in others of the same cold-constructed batch,” He turns to the monitor beside the berth, monologuing and marking a few things down. “It is to be expected. In a normal occurrence, cold-constructed mechas don’t normally possess one. Its desirable frametype will prove to be useful, however...”

“Uh, does that mean I am ill?” The silver jet piques, sitting up as his four wings perk anxiously. “Is that why I have to be here?” 

The purple tank’s unfeeling optic looks directly at him, reflecting the young one’s worried faceplate, “Negative, in spite of your abnormally small size, you are one healthy seekerling,” 

The purple mech’s one good arm reaches around to grab his patient by the waist. He picks up the winglet from the med berth and places him on the ground with ease. “Ability or not, you and your batch will all be put to great use to further the cause, one way or another,”

The seeker scrunches up his face, utterly confused and dissatisfied with the cryptid response. 

Just as he is about to ask more questions, the movement from the corner of his optics made him jump with a loud yelp.

At last, the mysterious tall mecha slowly emerges from the shadow, making a beeline to the scrawny flier, looking more real than ever.

Everything about this not-so-imaginary-now bot make his armor plates crawling in terror. From their featureless faceplate, arms that are as big as the seeker’s whole chassis, the dark metal that made up his massive frame, to the steadily approaching pace on the creepy digitigrade legs. Everything about them screams of a predator of the night, the one that the older seekers use to tell him about before recharge time.

“D-doctor...?” He squeaks as the faceless bot inches closer, cornering him into the med berth. The old bot ignores him in favor of jotting some notes into a hologram.

The newly-constructed flier keeps his wings folded and cranes his neck up to stare into the pitch-black visor. He draws in his field and trying not to make his fear unnoticeable as the silent bot sizes up to him.

He isn’t sure if he has anticipated having his spark tear out of his frame or for the mech to poof into nothingness, but neither of those came. 

Instead, the aerial detects the scary mech’s EM fields wavering with curiosity and caution as they bend down, putting their faceplate up close to his own.

The jet tilts his helm, perplexed.

He lets out a tiny, startled chirp when the faceless grounder mirrors his movements. The dark-colored bot’s vent hitches a little, equally surprised by the small flier’s Seeker-cant. 

The silver youngling's wings automatically bobbing up and down meekly as he realizes they are no danger. Remembering the gesture that older seekers do when greeting a comrade, the winglet's glossa suddenly sticks out and gives the taller mech a lick right on the visor. Hoping that it would send a friendly message.

The giant cobalt bot recoils and freezes for a long moment, before gently nudging the other with their smooth screen-face— as if to mimic the act again. The seeker let out more surprise tweets and giggles.

The mecha finally moves their helm away from his, and the seeker notices that they wear a similar metal collar as he does.

“Oh! you’re like me,” The seeker swiftly looks the hulking frame up and down.  _ Yet they look nothing like an Energon seeker or a miner,  _ he thought.

"They’re a newspark, like yourself, indeed, Starscream," the one-optic mech sighs, finally turning away from the hologram and piles of datapad to address the two distracting younglings. He leans back in his wheeled-chair and observes the pair. "Their designation is Soundwave. It is only logical that you two get acquainted, all things considered,"

"Soundwave?" Starscream teeters at the tips of his pedes, calling to the other sparkling. "It is a pleasure to meet you!" He giddily recites the phrase he has heard his master used before, wanting to make a good impression. Starscream has never met another Cybertronian his age before, being surrounded only by his siblings and snooty handlers since his construction.

The dark blue sparkling nods unhurriedly.

"Huh? You can't speak?" He asks, surprised at how unusual this potential new friend turned out to be. 

"Only the first step towards optimizing the ideal features for this born-gladiator," The one optic doctor rumbles softly, walking up to them and putting his servo on the silent newspark‘s board shoulder. 

Soundwave just turns to look down at the stoic doctor and where the servo touches them. The mute bot’s field uncomfortably spikes for the briefest moment before it is quickly drawn back— to which the purple tank ignores, and Starscream has missed it entirely.

The silver young looks up at his doctor quizzically. "Gladiator? What is that?" 

The elder tank’s lone red optics stares down at him. His emotion as unreadable as ever, causing the seeker to gulp. "Nothing any of you will understand at this moment, my apologies,” His large servo reaches out for Starscream. The jet recoils a little bit, before realizing he is being petted on the helm, awkwardly so.

“I appreciate having you two here today. However, It is necessary that I continued my work undisturbed.” The doctor’s finials twitch as he searches up  _ how to get rid of noisy sparklings _ in real-time. It has been vorns since he has to actually deal with one, after all.

“How about you two go ...play. Outside. Until your handler comes to pick you up?" the tank unsubspaces two Energon lollipops and hands them to the two, who accept them gingerly. “I’ll see you two when the next examination is due,”

"Okay," Starscream chirps, clasping Soundwave’s large claws with his own sleeker ones and tugging the masked mech along, “Thank you, doctor!”

The two young bots hop out into the well-lit hallway as the lab’s doors promptly slide shut behind them.

Once the two reach the ground floor, Starscream zooms past the entrance into the open. Spinning, opening his arms wide as he looks up in awe at the complex overpass and sky-high towers above them. The silent bot has to walk briskly to catch up with the overenergized flier, though now their steps as light as their spark.

The neon blue lights shine through the translucent floor, coloring the seeker’s frame as he skitters to sits down by a large fountain, looking out to the bustling city.

Soundwave moves to sit beside him, but hurl himself over to face the lunar-1’s refection on the surface instead. The bulky newspark dips their pedes into the water, watching it ripples and adopts the purple glows from the biolights.

“So… why the visor?” The flier stretches and nonchalantly asks, gnawing on the Energon goodies.

Soundwave— whose lollipop just seems to instantly disappear into thin air when nobody’s looking— just shrugs. They point to their own visor and then gently pokes at Starscream’s cheeks, hinting at something.

“Huh? uh... Oh, you mean... that is you faceplate?” the seeker takes a guess. When the dark screen flashes green as a confirmation, Starscream’s red optics went wide in interest.

“I’ve never seen anyone like you before,” the jet eagerly scoots closer and looks up at the young grounder, his field practically sparkles with wonder. “So you can see without optics?”

A nod.

“But you can’t talk?”

Soundwave shakes their helm and putting one digit up above where their intake would be.

"Hmm. I don’t really understand, but… if you can’t talk yet, I can talk for both of us until you get your voice!," the seeker declares and lightly taps Soundwave on their arm. The taller bot nods and nudges him back. Their EM field merges with his, warm and welcoming. 

"Wait, you don’t think I talk too much, do you?" 

Soundwave perks up at the question and shakes his helm profusely.

Starscream giggles, to the other’s relief. "If I am, you can just tell me to shut up, ‘Stream and ‘Warp do it sometimes too." 

His wings twitches and flutters at the thought of his family. Right now they’re probably pretending to be recharging, and gossiping behind the handler’s back, as usual. He can’t wait until he gets back and brags to them about his trip to the city and this new friend.

The mute newforge finally gives in and turns toward Starscream’s wings, looking pointedly between the two fidgety platings and the seekerling. 

“Oh, these? they are my wings! You know, I’ve been told a lot that I’m quite talented at flying!” he flickers them, pride is welling in his pointy faceplate.

“Speaking of which, what do you turn into? I mean, you’re huge! Are you a tank or something? Like our doctor?”

Soundwave’s visor flashes red. They point at their chassis and slowly shaking their helm again.

“You still don’t have one,” Starscream concludes. His round optics basically beaming up starlights at Soundwave. “Well! do consider a flight frame! Flying is the best thing ever! I promise you won’t regret it! We can even fly together with me and my siblings,”

Starscream claps his servos together as a bright idea pops up in his processor, “I could demonstrate! right now! ...even though I don’t think my handler will like it if I do things without his permission...” He turns to the other expectantly. The mischievous glimpse in the other’s optics tells Soundwave he’s already neck-deep in the cahoot.

“You won’t tell anyone, right? I’ll be back before you know it! pleeeease~” He joyfully pleas, leaning into his masked friend to feign dramatic desperation.

Soundwave feels something pleasant surge through their frame at the sight of the other smiling up at them. Before they could stop it, a whirling sound of their turbine revving escapes them, akin to that of a burst of laughter. They nod and playfully push, urging the seeker to go; secretly wanting to see a flier transform for the first time in their function.

Starscream grins and jumps down from the fountain’s finish. “Excellent! You’re the best, Soundwave,” He ran in front of his friend and spread his wings in obvious pride. “I’ll show you what a flight frame can do! Watch me!”

The young grounder watches after the seeker as he transforms and shoots upward into the starry sky. Silently recording his new friend’s show, the grounder has already made up their mind on what their alt-mode is going be.


End file.
